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25 Sept 24. DOD Official Briefs Lawmakers on Financial Management Progress, Path Forward. A senior Pentagon official briefed lawmakers yesterday on the Defense Department’s progress with improving and modernizing its financial management systems and strengthening the integrity and transparency in its financial reporting.
Thomas C. Steffens, the senior assistant to the DOD’s comptroller provided testimony before the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce, outlining the Defense Department’s recent financial management success and its path toward receiving an unmodified audit opinion by 2028.
Meeting that objective, Steffens said, remains a top priority for senior DOD leaders, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks.
He said the Defense Department’s focus on financial management, modernization and improvement have improved audit results, noting that in fiscal year 2023, the Marine Corps became the first branch to post an unmodified, or “clean,” opinion indicating that a third-party auditor found no material errors or misstatements in financial statements.
Each year, the department-wide audit, comprised of dozens of standalone audits of the services and other components, marks a significant undertaking for the Pentagon.
DOD is one of the largest organizations in the world, accounting for $3.8 trillion in assets and $4trn in liabilities in fiscal year 2023.
Steffens said at the start of the fiscal year 2024 audit, unmodified and unqualified audit opinions together covered 51% or $1.9trn of DOD’s total assets. He said that figure will continue to increase in coming years.
He added that investing in key financial management technologies will be critical to achieving the congressionally mandated timeline for a clean audit.
In fiscal year 2023, DOD invested $991m in audit remediation including investments in key technologies to accelerate audit progress and improve controls.
“This investment focuses heavily on tackling the root cause of systemic, long-standing issues that impede success,” Steffens said.
He added that the Defense Department has also partnered with Congress to improve financial management by reforming the planning, program, budgeting and execution process.
“The PPBE process is a fundamental strategic decision support mechanism for our leadership,” Steffens said.
This year, the commission on PPBE reform released 28 recommendations that were parceled into 35 recommendations. Hicks later endorsed 26 of those recommendations for implementation across the Defense Department.
“The timeline for PPBE reform relies on outcomes from complex, multiorganizational discussions and legislative actions and success depends on sustained cooperation and transparency,” Steffens said. “We appreciate congressional support for the National Defense Strategy and the Department’s financial management improvement efforts.”
He said Congress’ continued support is critical for the Defense Department’s ability to continue to make strides.
That support, he said, includes passing full and on-time appropriations. He noted that over the last 15 fiscal years, the Defense Department has operated under 48 stop-gap funding measures, or continuing resolutions, lasting 1,794 days or nearly five calendar years.
The unpredictability of funding, Steffens said, has compounding effects on the DOD’s ability to make critical investments needed to accomplish its mission.
Congress is expected to enact another short-term continuing resolution as fiscal year 2024 funding expires later this month.
“Without a timely budget, we are challenged in investing in new technologies, equipment and training,” Steffens said. “This has a profound impact on the quality of life of our service members, damages military hiring and delays vital investments in capacity such as submarine and shipbuilding.”
“Undersecretary of Defense Comptroller Michael McCord and I join Secretary Austin in urging Congress to act urgently,” he added. (Source: U.S. DoD)
24 Sept. 24. Boeing subsidiary, Indian firm ink new agreement to produce unmanned vehicles. The US and India have advanced several initiatives around defense cooperation in recent years. American giant Boeing and Indian company Sagar Defence Engineering are teaming to codevelop and coproduce new unmanned surface vehicles, as Washington and New Delhi continue to seek strengthened defense industrial ties.
The announcement, made through both White House and company statements, comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting the United States as part of the Quad meeting and the UN General Assembly.
The effort is built around Wave Glider, a USV produced by Boeing subsidiary Liquid Robotics and propelled by waves and solar power. They are used for ocean research, weather and climate modeling, tsunami and seismic monitoring as well as to support offshore energy, according to Boeing.
“The Wave Glider is an ideal system for fostering collaboration between the U.S. and Indian governments and strengthening tactical readiness in the Indo-Pacific,” said Shane Goodenough, CEO of Liquid Robotics. “Teaming up with Sagar Defence marks a new era for our bilateral defense cooperation and enables us to grow our existing Wave Glider operations in India. We are very pleased to join forces with the skilled team at Sagar, who have a proven record of successfully integrating uncrewed systems into active defense missions.”
In a Sept. 21 statement, the White House also applauded several other defense and technology cooperation initiatives between the United States and India, including a teaming agreement between Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems to establish a new maintenance facility in India for the C-130J Super Hercules fleet.
“This marks a significant step in U.S.-India defense and aerospace cooperation and reflects the two sides’ deepening strategic and technology partnership ties,” according to the White House statement.
For over a decade, India and the US have made pledges of increased defense industrial cooperation with each other. The relationship was reset with the 2012 launch of the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), a specialized program crafted by Ash Carter, who was then the US deputy defense secretary. When Carter took on the full SecDef job, he prioritized relations with India, including cooperation on engine and carrier technology. Under the Trump administration, in 2019, Ellen Lord, then the Pentagon acquisition head, told reporters that the US and India would codevelop small, aerial unmanned systems.
However, in part because of India’s often convoluted acquisition system, little was actually developed from these agreements, leading the Biden administration to take its own swing in 2023 under the aegis of the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem and a series of defense-oriented initiatives. There was also a subsequent memorandum of understanding signed by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit and a similar agency in the Indian Ministry of Defence.
“The efforts via the INDUSWERX consortium to facilitate pathways for defense and dual-use companies in the INDUS-X network to access premier testing ranges in both countries, were appreciated,” according to the statement. (Source: Google/Breaking Defense.com)
24 Sep 24. NORAD Boss ‘Intrigued’ by New High-Altitude Drones Amid Increase in Russian Approaches. Russian aircraft have encroached on the Alaska air defense indication zone (ADIZ) four times in the last week, the head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command noted Sept. 17, as he said he wants to ramp up his command’s training and monitoring capabilities.
“We’ve had four straight nights of intercepting Russian aircraft that have penetrated inside the Alaska ADIZ,” Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot said at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference. “NORAD fighters, AWACS (Airborne early warning and control aircraft), and tankers intercepted them all, everything safely and professionally. But it shows an increased presence.”
The steady stream of incursions included:
- Two Russian military aircraft on Sept. 11
- Two TU-142 bombers on Sept. 13
- Two IL-38 patrol aircraft on Sept. 14
- Two IL-38 patrol aircraft on Sept. 15
NORAD posted on social media that it scrambled U.S. fighters to intercept the aircraft on Sept. 11 but didn’t specify the type of the Air Force jets or the Russian aircraft involved that day.
Incursions into the air defense identification zone are not the same as entering U.S. or Canadian airspace. Russian activity in this buffer zone occurs regularly and NORAD is “accustomed” to the activity, it says. But the frequency is notable—it’s the most consecutive days with an announced detection in years.
It also builds on another notable incident in July, when NORAD tracked two Chinese Xian H-6s and two Russian Tu-95s, escorted by Russian fighter jets, flying near Alaska, the first appearance of Beijing’s bombers in a combined patrol through the area.
“It was just coordinated, not integrated like how two NORAD countries … are very well integrated,” Guillot noted.
Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern command, speaks at the AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Sept. 17
While not yet a display of interoperability, the incident marked the eighth coordinated bomber flight between Beijing and Moscow since 2019, reflecting a growing level of cooperation.
“China spends a lot more time up there,” Guillot cautioned. “It shows, on a daily basis, that the Arctic is an area where a number of nations are showing interest, not only for military purposes, but also for scientific purposes.”
Since branding itself a “near-Arctic State” in 2018, China has showed increased interest in the Arctic for economic and strategic reasons. Although not a major Arctic player yet, experts noted that Beijing views melting ice caps as a gateway to new trade routes, and it may seek to leverage Russia’s Arctic activities to bolster its own presence in the region.
“We are pursuing sensors that go from sea floor all the way up to space in multiple layers and domains, to make sure that we can detect all of those adversaries,” said Guillot, highlighting that this capability must surpass the ranges covered five or 10 years ago and needs to reach “much further away,” given the advanced capability of adversaries’ weapons.
Specifically for better monitoring aircraft, cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons, Guillot’s predecessor, Gen. Glen VanHerck successfully championed new over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) capabilities. However, in June, the Air Force told lawmakers that it would no longer fund the program in fiscal 2024 as planned, postponing the decision to 2026.
In order to get continuous surveillance, Guillot said he is now eyeing unmanned aerial vehicles as an interim solution. U.S. Central Command is also eyeing low-cost, long-endurance drones through the Air Force’s Task Force 99 program.
“As we look to see which capabilities can be fielded, first, having a gap filler, such as a high-altitude, long-endurance UAVs, could help us utilize the platform’s flexibility and agility to go where we need in that vast landscape,” said Guillot. “I’m very intrigued by what Gen. Kurilla and CENTCOM are doing in the UAV realm. Of course, they need a different sensor suite than we do, so we’ll have to make sure that the type of payloads we need will work. … But I certainly think it’s something that we could look at.”
While UAVs such as RQ-4 Global Hawk drones could offer more flexibility and broad coverage of the area, Guillot added that their sensors and payloads will likely have to be tailored for Arctic conditions to ensure smooth operation without compromising endurance or altitude.
It’s not just the aircraft that have to be prepped for the Arctic. Guillot also hinted at a plan to boost Arctic training—toughening up warfighters for the harsh cold and rugged terrain.
“We’re also trying to increase the number and complexity of exercises that we conduct up there,” said Guillot. “Our fighter squadrons… they’re not necessarily used to working in that environment, and that’s something that takes specific training and, in cases, specific equipment.”
(Source: UAS VISION/Air & Space Forces Magazine)
20 Sept. 24. Chief of Naval Operations Discusses Navigation Plan 2024. The Navy’s top admiral yesterday underscored the imperative for the nation’s sea service to continue to meet the demands of an evolving technology and national security landscape.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa M. Franchetti discussed her recently released Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy 2024 during a discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a public policy think tank in Washington.
Franchetti’s plan outlines her guidance to the fleet to meet future challenges and expand the Navy’s contribution to the joint warfighting ecosystem.
She noted the key role the Navy will play in maintaining the United States’ military advantage amid a changing geopolitical environment and increasing competition with China.
“China is clearly the pacing challenge,” she said. “They are on a wartime footing.”
The CNO added that China presents a multidomain challenge encompassing not only military, but also economic competition. She noted China’s lack of transparency about its actions around the globe, and their affinity for use of dual-use technologies to accomplish its aims.
Franchetti also noted the changing nature of war and the imperative to adopt robotic and autonomous technology and the reach and lethality of the fleet as key guide rails for the strategy going forward.
Domestic fiscal and industrial base constraints add to the Navy’s challenge, she said, as the service recognizes the need to grow its fleet.
Franchetti released the plan earlier this week. It identifies two overarching strategic ends: readiness for the possibility of war with China by 2027 and enhancement of the Navy’s long-term advantage.
The plan also includes seven, core fleet readiness targets under Project 33, a reference to Franchetti serving as the 33rd CNO. Those targets include:
- Ready the force by eliminating ship, submarine and aircraft maintenance delays;
- Scale robotic and autonomous systems to integrate more platforms at speed;
- Create the command centers our fleets need to win on a distributed battlefield;
- Recruit and retain the force we need to get more players on the field;
- Deliver a quality of service commensurate with the sacrifices of our sailors;
- Train for combat as we plan to fight, in the real world and virtually; and
- Restore the critical infrastructure that sustains and projects the fight from shore.
Franchetti said the navigation plan captures how the Navy can think, act and operate differently with the resources it has to make the most gains in the shortest time possible.
“If you look at the ways we’re trying to do that through implementing Project 33, which are really seven areas that as I worked with my team, with our four-star fleet commanders, these are areas that I can put my thumb on the scale,” she said. “We could make a difference in those areas, and it will make a meaningful contribution to our ability to be more ready by 2027.
The plan also lays out the Navy’s plan to expand its contribution to the joint warfighting ecosystem, building upon the implementation framework for fielding key capabilities outlined in the 2022 Navigation Plan, with an additional focus on scaling robotic autonomous systems.
The implementation framework focuses on five capabilities ranging from long-range fires to contested logistics. It also focuses on four key enablers ranging from artificial intelligence to robotic and autonomous systems.
For further information visit the CNO Navigation Plan 2024 website. (Source: U.S. DoD)
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